From Craigslist to FEI

In the goals of getting more experience at PSG, I saw this schooling show in town so very last minute and sent in entries for it. I thought about having Sarah ride Simon but well, we thought he was 80% sold at that point and decided to ignore that since he's scoring over 60% at second level already. I debated having her show Piper at Training level or something similar but in the end, I chose my baby!horse Jade to come along with Vana.

Vana was the third horse of the day and everyone came over to watch me ride my PSG test. Naturally we were looking like rock stars down the centerline and then I BOOM turned left instead of right and got a rider error. I know there was some sniggering but honestly, I've memorized a MILLION tests since last year and well, they ALL go to the left and I was working SO hard on the million things I have to do each step of that test and so meh. I also hope that someone watching that's nervous about their training, 1st, second or whatever level tests realizes that no one is perfect and errors happen. Just find your way and get on with it. Even with the error we still got a 61% or something so it's really not the end of the world. I'm not here to cater to the sniggerers but if I can make someone watching feel like these upper level things aren't a mystical dragon, but rather the result of hard work, loads of practice, and tons of research then I feel like I've made a difference.

Jade was entered in T-3 and 1-3 and I thought the T-3 test was first. Sarah came over during warmup to tell me that no, we were doing 1-3 first. Oops. This was Jade's first time with me anywhere other than my house and coach's home in probably two years so I was thrilled that she was confident and working hard during our brief warmup. I knew I was going to ride our tests like no one was watching and I did just that. She tried SOOOO hard through the 1-3 test, nailed her changes and was just a really good girl even though she definitely thought there was tons of canter in it (there is). I smiled and laughed most of the test and encouraged her with my voice while being fair and demanding. Baby!horse couldn't have done better so we wandered around some more, hung out a little, and then tied her back to the trailer so we could scratch her T-3 test as a reward.

BACH provided lunch and we ate that while waiting for scores and then heading home. It was a really nice day and honestly, riding Jade in her first show is hands down the best experience I've had on this journey. It's amazing to get a horse, restart it, put all the (re) training into it and end up at a show where they try their guts out for you. I have never been so proud of a pony of mine and I can't wait to see where we go from here. Also, it's mind blowing to me that I "started" showing at First level with a horse rather than say, Intro. How perspectives can change in less than a year!